What can we all do to form an intergenerational community blind to our differences--a community that supports one another?

Does demolishing a building wash away the sins of the past?

From PreservationNation:

"It continues to intrigue me that taking a position in favor of rehabilitation and modernization of these old structures—even a position that includes calls for selective demolition to reconnect buildings with neighborhoods by restoring street grids—is automatically seen as favoring a return to the bad old days of public housing mismanagement.

Global warming will bring an end to white Christmas and winter as we've always known in, here in NEO, so during the first real snowstorm of this season, December 16, 2007, I went in search of a visual symbol of NEO, in my neighborhood, strong enough to stand out in white-out conditions, and I came to the Breuer! Not the Breuer Tower, of global controversy, but the Breuer Museum wing of global celebration, design elements of which are featured in the latest additions to the Cleveland Museum of Art, shown on the left here, now evolving form in the hands of Vinoly.

In My Colombian War*, Silvana Paternostro reports that the average Colombian reads less than 2 books a year.  Does the average northeast Ohioan top that number?

I've known enough musicians in my lifetime to know that recognition is important.  The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is located here.  Does that mean anything at all?

We know that Cleveland does not lead the country among U.S. cities for new business creation.  But, how many Clevelanders work for publishers based in other cities?  Do "our" writers, designers, and illustrators pull the heavy writing and creative process for other cities?

How will northeast Ohio contend with the massive disposal of analog TVs in 2008-2009?

From Waste News:

Many TVs will be tossed when new FCC rules take effect in 2009

(Waste News; 11/12/2007, Vol. 13 Issue 14, p1-23, 2p, 2c --You will need your Cleveland Public Library card number and PIN to read this article electronically)

What makes a realNEO candidate   REAL?  Money?  Business support? Life experience? A newspaper endorsement?

As part of the Star Neighborhood Development planning for the Star Complex and surrounding one mile radius, I have been planning the redevelopment of the current Cleveland Institute of Art Gund Building and land, on East Boulevard in Cleveland, shown below (full size image here).

What's the story with the old Cleveland Psychiatric Institute?  When I worked at Metro and cruised the underground tunnels in the 1980s, one tunnel was always fenced off and guarded like some Victorian-era fortress. 

There are many big industrial sites around Cleveland I pass regularly - some are active brownfields, like the Flats, and some are abandoned. Some feature Cleveland Landbank signs and are in stages of redevelopment... the one featured here is on the West Side of Cleveland, at Bishop Road and Madison, by W. 117, and the city has clearly spent $millions clearing up this huge property of many acres.

Now that I'm settling into East Cleveland, expect to see posted to REALNEO and my other communities many amazing pictures of urban cores of this NEO-Plum... healthy, ill and dead.

Stores have problems with identity theft and stolen or "borrowed" credit cards.  Libraries do, too.  How far should institutions go to protect your identity?

An interesting discussion on REALNEO, about bottled water, inspired this Question of the Day -  "Is lead a problem in Cleveland drinking water?" According to the Cleveland Water website FAQ, the answer is "Absolutly not". But, in looking at their water analysis data, which hasn't been updated since 2003, that claim is incorrect. They reference a Federal government acceptable lead level in drinking water of 15 µg/L (micrograms per liter, or parts per billion) and Cleveland water results averaged 6.4 µg/L, with 2 out of 72 samples exceeding the Federal standard... that equals around 3% of samples had unsafe lead levels, which equals 10,000+ Cleveland customers and probably over 50,000 regional customers who may fall into that 3%.

 About three weeks ago, I received the first "Letter to the Editor" in the history of REALNEO. Lots of people send me press releases and event info and tips on cool content, but never has someone sent an opinion editorial to be posted for them (probably because REALNEO is open for anyone to create an account and post content and comments themselves). The letter to the editor was titled "Lead Paint - You Are Idiots" and was received from someone named Kim Falk (he authorized publication of his name) and the email address was from Sherwin Williams. A little googling and I learned he is an employee there - a very enthusiastic and loyal one, to be sure... he was responsible for Sherwin-Williams donating paint to help in the repair of the Pentagon after 9/11. So I was not surprised to read he is protective of his company in defense of them being sued over lead. Still, I was intrigued by the language he uses in his editorial, published below.

Two weeks ago saw the second birthday of REALNEO. I started REALNEO in October, 2004, to provide “Regional Economic Action Links for North East Ohio” and implement for the region some exciting open source social networking technology. While the outcomes have not been entirely what I expected, and these years have in ways been rough, I've been thrilled to help drive and support some great developments in the community.

The International Association of IT Asset Managers (IAITAM) is holding their annual conference in Cleveland, October 18-20, which is a major win for the city! I've hosted several IT conferences in Cleveland and am always pleased by the response of participants to the Cleveland location... always positive. So I was interested to see how an international conference sells Cleveland to its members... and I think we as a community should update and expand the list of assets they are promoting. Read through the following, and add comments of what you think may make these conventioneers happy while they are in town...

I just got the following event details from our Tech Czar Michael DeAloia about an important international conference coming to Cleveland - The International Association of Information Technology Asset Managers - with keynote by Case VP of IT Lev Gonick (congratulations, Lev). I've worked with lots of high level global IT managers and they are an excellent draw to Cleveland... they like to explore and they spend money, so this conference is a gem. And they are offering a special deal for Cleveland IT companies worth checking out. Most interesting to me and you is how they are selling Cleveland to their international membership... check out our forum on 22 reasons to attend this conference in Cleveland, Ohio, and add your ideas to share with these important guests of our community, and all others! See conference details below...

Location

I just watched the debate of candidates for Governor for the state of Ohio - Ken Blackwell vs. Ted Strickland - and strongly recommend anyone who cares about the future of the state and region do the same - it will be rebroadcast tonight on Channel 5 and is available at their website. I haven't really been following any of the campaigns so far this election term, other than being exposed to lots of very unsophisticated, annoying and at times revolting negative ads from Republican PACs, which makes me certainly not want to vote for any Republicans. That those candidates allow such crap to be associated with them shows their lack of substance and character. But the debate today between Strickland and Blackwell proved Blackwell's lack of substance, and that Strickland is a smart, thoughtful and enlightened civic citizen prepared to do the right things for the state.

When I think about the kids in Brattleboro who are getting naked wherever and whenever they like, it makes me feel very stupid for living by social establishment rules I don't respect. When I think about the fact, pointed out by a poster to realneo, that in Cleveland people doing the same thing would probably get arrested, it makes me feel stupid for living here. But then I think of the beautiful morning a few years ago when 3,000 of us got naked for art, and felt very free and natural, and were not arrested, and it occurs to me I didn't do it to be part of a work of art or to see lots of naked Clevelanders but to be free, in my society and city, as I like. So I propose we who want to be free develop a tradition of expressing our freedom here and become better connected in the process, through some NEO Flash mobs.

In a recent series of editorial rants in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the authors proposed Cleveland must attack "street culture" to correct our condition as the most impoverished big city in America. I've posted on their position and my disgust at their suggestions this is an NAACP issue, or an issue at all, and I questioned what on Earth they mean by "street culture". Then, while working on a website cataloging my parents' art collection for the May Show Project Philip Williams and I are organizing I understood what the PD wants to kill... the culture that empowered the art shown above, being a "Jazz Bowl" by one of the world's most prominent designers, Cleveland's beloved Victor Schreckengost, and a print masterpiece by one of the world's most renowned "minimalist" artists, Frank Stella. Without "street culture" neither of these works of art would exist. Good idea, PD.

Evelyn has been sneezing all evening and just commented that there is a strange smell in the air. I went outside and realized she is correct... it stinks in Ohio City tonight. It is obvious why... the wind is coming from the East, where Mittal is located. I've lived on the near west side of Cleveland for over a year, on and off, and usually the air is very nice, coming from the north-west and so from over the lake... the nearest major pollution source I can think of are power plants down lake. But when the wind shifts, as with tonight, the smell of the air is brutal...

My theory is, we want an easier way of doing things and we want a shortcut to getting what we want and we will stop at nothing to get there. For example... the Bush admin. and some other important people "need" places to build their stupid little developments. But the only way to do that in places like California is to cut down one of the most ancient and sacred trees we have, the Sequoia. It really bothers me that someone would willingly destroy these trees some of which are over 300 years old!

The origins of REALNEO.US live at http://clevelandcause.tribe.net/ where I first organized this revolution, while I was based in Northern California and fighting to help the real NEO economy from afar. Read the manifesto that was the CAUSE for REALNEO.US  below... the very first copy sent to my friend and co-conspirator with REALNEO.US, Louis Carl Edwards, via Tribe.net on December 21, 2003 at 4:19 AM, West Coast time:

Phillip Williams, Sudhir Ragupathy and I have been supporting America Speaks and the Voices and Choices initiative of the Fund For Our Economic Future (Fund), so I was very interested to complete the next phase of this project, which is called "Choicebooks" - on-line interactive surveys asking respondents to complete multi-part surveys in six categories addressing sets of issues identified as important to the economic growth of the region, surfaced through the extensive community converstations Voice and Choices has hosted over the past year. We did not provide the technology for the choicebooks, so today was the first time I saw the implementation. I completed the choicebooks, which takes a good hour but can be completed in parts as your time permits. I will say the process is worth the effort, and I encourage everyone to participate, as the results will influence how $35 million of Fund money will be spent in the future, and this will influence much more secondary spending on regional economic development. Go to http://www.voiceschoices.org to participate, and then return to this forum to offer your feedback on the experience. In particular, do you notice anything interesting about the surveys, designed to influence how you respond?